VLF studio's characteristic bold, clean and imaginative designs

There’s not much we love more than a good pun here at It’s Nice That, so when we stumbled across Collins’ latest typeface, we had to find out more. Developed by the agency’s design director, Jules Tardy and its creative director Thomas Wilder, the typeface is inspired by the renowned puppeteer, cartoonist and filmmaker and mastermind behind The Muppets: Jim Henson. Its name? Kernit.

“Art is somewhere I take a lot of inspiration from. My grandmother was a painter,” explains London-based designer Yasseen Faik. “Before I went to university, I was reading books about various periods of contemporary art, from which I found a lot of inspiration visually and in the way of creative thinking.” With movements such as modernism, post-modernism, abstract expressionism, surrealism, minimalism, pop art and hyperrealism emerging as firm interests from his childhood of painting, it was upon starting his foundation course at Camberwell College of Arts that Yasseen began to focus on graphic design.

Melbourne-based graphic designer Dominique Vine has gravitated towards the arts for as long as she can recall. Her years of creatively-minded projects is evident; Dominique’s portfolio is full of confident colour combinations, strong typefaces and considered compositions. “When I finished school I actually decided to enrol in a journalism degree,” Dominique tells It’s Nice That. “I regretted my decision very quickly, deferred after a semester and applied to communication design at Monash University instead. It was definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made. I finished my course last year but my love for design continues to grow.”

VLF graphic design and art direction studio was founded ten years ago by Thomas Cristiani and Antoine Roux. Distinguished by its bold, clean and contextually sensitive designs, VLF has firmly cemented its name in the fashion industry. Thomas and Antoine first met during their university years in 2005 and started working soon after as a Paris-based art and design duo. Antoine moved to London four years ago, however, transforming VLF into a company with bases on either side of the channel.

There’s not much we love more than a good pun here at It’s Nice That, so when we stumbled across Collins’ latest typeface, we had to find out more. Developed by the agency’s design director, Jules Tardy and its creative director Thomas Wilder, the typeface is inspired by the renowned puppeteer, cartoonist and filmmaker and mastermind behind The Muppets: Jim Henson. Its name? Kernit.

“Art is somewhere I take a lot of inspiration from. My grandmother was a painter,” explains London-based designer Yasseen Faik. “Before I went to university, I was reading books about various periods of contemporary art, from which I found a lot of inspiration visually and in the way of creative thinking.” With movements such as modernism, post-modernism, abstract expressionism, surrealism, minimalism, pop art and hyperrealism emerging as firm interests from his childhood of painting, it was upon starting his foundation course at Camberwell College of Arts that Yasseen began to focus on graphic design.

“Being a bald man sucks,” says French animator Paul Cabon in the intro to his animated film The Bald Future. “Knowing you’ll become one is worse.” A surreal and charming exploration of the inescapable combination of genes and time, the film takes you from Paul’s initial realisation of his eggheaded fate during a family meal consisting of entirely bald relatives, to outlandish fantasies of his thick-maned alter ego – a life that Paul will never lead. “I knew going bald was not such a serious problem,” Paul tells It’s Nice That, “yet it was really hard to get some distance and feel ok about it. I realised it could be interesting comedy material because of that – there was some tension behind it.”

David Shrigley is venting. I’ve asked him about the inspiration behind his new book, Fully Coherent Plan for a New and Better Society, and in typically humble fashion his first answer is, “I dunno, the usual stuff.” But then, he admits there’s more to it. “It’s kind of a political book, but a sociological take on it. More of an explanation of society. It purports to make sense, but it doesn’t. Someone told me the other day it was profound… and I said, oh, ok good.” Obviously, the title is ironic, he clarifies, just one of the book’s many jabs at the state of the world’s current affairs. “If we had a fully coherent plan for a new and better society we would’ve put it into action long before now.”

The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots, lootings and arsons that occurred from 29 April – 4 May. The unrest began after the acquittal of four officers from the Los Angeles Police Department who were involved in the brutal beating and arrest of African American taxi driver, Rodney King. The riots began after footage of the incident was broadcast and widely viewed on television resulting in the most destructive civil disturbance in America’s history, totalling in over a billion dollars of damage.

Soft, pastel hues permeate Swedish photographer Hedvig Jenning’s work, whether it’s a fashion shoot for The Guardian or a body positivity series for Odda magazine. Her images are romantic and dreamy, but maintain a lighthearted tone due to subtle, humorous details. Hedvig grew up in a small village in rural Sweden where she spent her days watching films, reading magazines and listening to music. Popular culture played a pivotal role in getting her interested in photography and pursuing a creative career.

“I went to BJ Magazines on Varick Street at lunch – one of the better places to get magazines [in New York], but somewhere I’ve been going less and less,” recalls designer and art director, Richard Turley, of the day back in January he decided to create his latest project, Civilization. “I walked around and it felt different from how I remember and I was trying to work out why; then it occurred to me that the reason it felt different was because half of the shop was now crisps and corn snacks. Maybe this change had been happening for some time, but it felt quite shocking.”

Melbourne-based graphic designer Dominique Vine has gravitated towards the arts for as long as she can recall. Her years of creatively-minded projects is evident; Dominique’s portfolio is full of confident colour combinations, strong typefaces and considered compositions. “When I finished school I actually decided to enrol in a journalism degree,” Dominique tells It’s Nice That. “I regretted my decision very quickly, deferred after a semester and applied to communication design at Monash University instead. It was definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made. I finished my course last year but my love for design continues to grow.”